Companies · Puzzle #10 · Friday, October 9
Companies: the board
Eight items, eight categories, one place each. Here is the board with every figure and where it comes from, and the best way to place them. Play today's Companies.
The categories
- Profit margin: 1 pt per 3% margin, last year
- Profit: 1.5 pts per doubling over $150M, last year
- Inventory: 1.5 pts per doubling over $100M, at year end
- Growth: 1 pt per 2.5% sales growth, last year
- On the Nasdaq: 10 pts if listed on the Nasdaq
- Sales per employee: 2 pts per doubling over $60K a head, last year
- Assets: 1.5 pts per doubling over $3B, at year end
- Workforce: 1.5 pts per doubling over 2,500 staff, at year end
The best board
- Ross Stores in On the Nasdaq: trades on the Nasdaq (10.0)
- Bank of America in Workforce: 213,000 employees at the end of December 2025 (9.6)
- Apple in Profit: $112.0B profit in the year to September 2025 (10.0)
- Verizon in Assets: $404.3B in assets at the end of December 2025 (10.0)
- Fox in Sales per employee: $1.62M in sales per employee in the year to June 2026 (9.5)
- Mastercard in Profit margin: a 45.6% profit margin in the year to December 2025 (10.0)
- Cava in Growth: sales up 22.4% in the year to December 2025 (9.0)
- Pfizer in Inventory: $10.7B of inventory at the end of December 2025 (10.0)
The most this board could score: 78.1 of 80.
The lineup, figure by figure
Ross Stores
Off-price clothing and home stores
- Profit margin
- a 9.4% profit margin in the year to January 2026 (3.1) Source: ROSS STORES, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-03-31
- Profit
- $2.1B profit in the year to January 2026 (5.8) Source: ROSS STORES, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-03-31
- Inventory
- $2.6B of inventory at the end of January 2026 (7.1) Source: ROSS STORES, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-03-31
- Growth
- sales up 7.7% in the year to January 2026 (3.1) Source: ROSS STORES, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-03-31
- On the Nasdaq
- trades on the Nasdaq (10.0) Source: ROSS STORES, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-03-31
- Sales per employee
- $205K in sales per employee in the year to January 2026 (3.5) Source: ROSS STORES, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-03-31
- Assets
- $15.5B in assets at the end of January 2026 (3.6) Source: ROSS STORES, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-03-31
- Workforce
- 111,000 employees at the end of January 2026 (8.2) Source: ROSS STORES, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-03-31
Bank of America
Bank, plus Merrill Lynch
- Profit margin
- a 27.0% profit margin in the year to December 2025 (9.0) Source: BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Profit
- $30.5B profit in the year to December 2025 (10.0) Source: BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Inventory
- no inventory at the end of December 2025 (0.0) Source: BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Growth
- sales up 6.8% in the year to December 2025 (2.7) Source: BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- On the Nasdaq
- trades on the NYSE (0.0) Source: BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Sales per employee
- $531K in sales per employee in the year to December 2025 (6.3) Source: BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Assets
- $3.4T in assets at the end of December 2025 (10.0) Source: BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Workforce
- 213,000 employees at the end of December 2025 (9.6) Source: BANK OF AMERICA CORP /DE/ 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
Apple
Maker of the iPhone, Mac and iPad
- Profit margin
- a 26.9% profit margin in the year to September 2025 (9.0) Source: Apple Inc. 10-K, filed 2025-10-31
- Profit
- $112.0B profit in the year to September 2025 (10.0) Source: Apple Inc. 10-K, filed 2025-10-31
- Inventory
- $5.7B of inventory at the end of September 2025 (8.8) Source: Apple Inc. 10-K, filed 2025-10-31
- Growth
- sales up 6.4% in the year to September 2025 (2.6) Source: Apple Inc. 10-K, filed 2025-10-31
- On the Nasdaq
- trades on the Nasdaq (10.0) Source: Apple Inc. 10-K, filed 2025-10-31
- Sales per employee
- $2.51M in sales per employee in the year to September 2025 (10.0) Source: Apple Inc. 10-K, filed 2025-10-31
- Assets
- $359.2B in assets at the end of September 2025 (10.0) Source: Apple Inc. 10-K, filed 2025-10-31
- Workforce
- 166,000 employees at the end of September 2025 (9.1) Source: Apple Inc. 10-K, filed 2025-10-31
Verizon
Wireless carrier and Fios internet
- Profit margin
- a 12.4% profit margin in the year to December 2025 (4.1) Source: VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-17
- Profit
- $17.2B profit in the year to December 2025 (10.0) Source: VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-17
- Inventory
- $2.4B of inventory at the end of December 2025 (6.9) Source: VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-17
- Growth
- sales up 2.5% in the year to December 2025 (1.0) Source: VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-17
- On the Nasdaq
- trades on the NYSE (0.0) Source: VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-17
- Sales per employee
- $1.54M in sales per employee in the year to December 2025 (9.4) Source: VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-17
- Assets
- $404.3B in assets at the end of December 2025 (10.0) Source: VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-17
- Workforce
- 89,900 employees at the end of December 2025 (7.8) Source: VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-17
Fox
Fox News and Fox Sports
- Profit margin
- a 10.1% profit margin in the year to June 2026 (3.4) Source: Fox Corp 10-K, filed 2026-08-06
- Profit
- $1.7B profit in the year to June 2026 (5.3) Source: Fox Corp 10-K, filed 2026-08-06
- Inventory
- $487M of inventory at the end of June 2026 (3.4) Source: Fox Corp 10-K, filed 2026-08-06
- Growth
- sales up 5.1% in the year to June 2026 (2.0) Source: Fox Corp 10-K, filed 2026-08-06
- On the Nasdaq
- trades on the Nasdaq (10.0) Source: Fox Corp 10-K, filed 2026-08-06
- Sales per employee
- $1.62M in sales per employee in the year to June 2026 (9.5) Source: Fox Corp 10-K, filed 2026-08-06
- Assets
- $22.5B in assets at the end of June 2026 (4.4) Source: Fox Corp 10-K, filed 2026-08-06
- Workforce
- 10,550 employees at the end of June 2026 (3.1) Source: Fox Corp 10-K, filed 2026-08-06
Mastercard
Card payments network
- Profit margin
- a 45.6% profit margin in the year to December 2025 (10.0) Source: Mastercard Inc 10-K, filed 2026-02-11
- Profit
- $15.0B profit in the year to December 2025 (10.0) Source: Mastercard Inc 10-K, filed 2026-02-11
- Inventory
- no inventory at the end of December 2025 (0.0) Source: Mastercard Inc 10-K, filed 2026-02-11
- Growth
- sales up 16.4% in the year to December 2025 (6.6) Source: Mastercard Inc 10-K, filed 2026-02-11
- On the Nasdaq
- trades on the NYSE (0.0) Source: Mastercard Inc 10-K, filed 2026-02-11
- Sales per employee
- $824K in sales per employee in the year to December 2025 (7.6) Source: Mastercard Inc 10-K, filed 2026-02-11
- Assets
- $54.2B in assets at the end of December 2025 (6.3) Source: Mastercard Inc 10-K, filed 2026-02-11
- Workforce
- 39,800 employees at the end of December 2025 (6.0) Source: Mastercard Inc 10-K, filed 2026-02-11
Cava
Mediterranean fast-casual chain
- Profit margin
- a 5.4% profit margin in the year to December 2025 (1.8) Source: CAVA GROUP, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Profit
- $64M profit in the year to December 2025 (0.0) Source: CAVA GROUP, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Inventory
- $9M of inventory at the end of December 2025 (0.0) Source: CAVA GROUP, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Growth
- sales up 22.4% in the year to December 2025 (9.0) Source: CAVA GROUP, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- On the Nasdaq
- trades on the NYSE (0.0) Source: CAVA GROUP, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Sales per employee
- $88K in sales per employee in the year to December 2025 (1.1) Source: CAVA GROUP, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Assets
- $1.4B in assets at the end of December 2025 (0.0) Source: CAVA GROUP, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
- Workforce
- 13,480 employees at the end of December 2025 (3.6) Source: CAVA GROUP, INC. 10-K, filed 2026-02-25
Pfizer
Drugmaker of vaccines and medicines
- Profit margin
- a 12.4% profit margin in the year to December 2025 (4.1) Source: PFIZER INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-26
- Profit
- $7.8B profit in the year to December 2025 (8.5) Source: PFIZER INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-26
- Inventory
- $10.7B of inventory at the end of December 2025 (10.0) Source: PFIZER INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-26
- Growth
- sales down 1.7% in the year to December 2025 (0.0) Source: PFIZER INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-26
- On the Nasdaq
- trades on the NYSE (0.0) Source: PFIZER INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-26
- Sales per employee
- $834K in sales per employee in the year to December 2025 (7.6) Source: PFIZER INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-26
- Assets
- $208.2B in assets at the end of December 2025 (9.2) Source: PFIZER INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-26
- Workforce
- 75,000 employees at the end of December 2025 (7.4) Source: PFIZER INC 10-K, filed 2026-02-26